Two brothers, Paul and David Parkus, were standing in line at a nearby Singapore Airlines ticket counter.

‘‘I heard pop, pop, pop and spun around and saw this guy shooting away,’’ said Paul Parkus. ‘‘The El Al guys came over the top of the counter,’’ he said, and tackled the shooter.

Dr. David Parkus heard five or six shots in quick succession, and turned to see the gunman wrestling with an El Al security guard. A second guard then charged and shot the gunman.
  
 Witness Hakin Hasidh said he was standing in the line next to the El Al counter. After hearing two shots, he turned and saw the gunman fire at passengers in line.

‘‘The first couple of shots, everybody just stood there, frozen like I was,’’ Hasidh said. ‘‘It’s really hard to tell whether he was aiming at the counter, at people behind the counter or at people in line.’’

This is a very common reaction in these kinds of events, which is our first lesson -- What should you do when a psycho opens fire in a public place?

• Be aware of what’s going on. Apparently there was some sort of argument at the ticket counter and a ticket agent was shot before Hadayet started shooting others.  Many of the other public shootings seem to unfold the same general way -- a disaffected person makes threats or threatening comments. He shows up at school (or work) dressed in military style camouflage clothing, pulls out a firearm and starts calmly and methodically firing. Look for people acting strangely or dressed inappropriately like wearing a coat on a warm day (to conceal weapons).
• Believe yourself. Your eyes see the event unfolding, your ears hear the gunfire, you feel the impacts of bullets around you, you see glass shattering, people running, screaming or falling. Yet many people report they thought the event wasn’t real. They think it’s a joke. Or firecrackers. If you have been aware of what is happening around you, your body knows something is wrong -- heed the warning!  
• Hit the ground! Your first priority is to get out of the line of fire, get on the ground immediately! Do not hesitate, move! You've read the reaction of the witness above when he said that everyone froze when the shooting began.
• Find cover. Get behind something that will stop bullets. Unfortunately, high-powered bullets can penetrate a large amount of common materials. Just because something conceals you from the gunman, that doesn’t mean you are behind cover. Look for brick walls, planters, mailboxes, cars, thick trees. A table top or a typical interior wall most likely will not be suitable cover.
• Get distance. Your chances for survival in a gunfight rise dramatically the further you are from the gunman. Crawl away from the shooting and try to get better cover or escape out a door or even a window. 
• Escape! Often there is a noticeable, dramatic silence in the shooting when the gunman has run out of ammunition and is either reloading or switching to another weapon. This is your chance to make a move for an exit to escape. Several incidents like the Springfield, Oregon, the Luby’s cafeteria and the deranged man shooting at the White House with an SKS carbine were terminated when the gunman continued to try and fire an empty weapon and was subdued.

The other lesson revealed is the fantastic reaction by the El Al security personnel.  There is no doubt -- no doubt -- that their quick and professional reactions saved the lives of many of the people packed into lines at the counter. You will react like you've trained and these guys have been trained well.

Interestingly, early media reports about security personnel shooting the suspect after he was tackled and controlled gathered no outrage from the public and you don't hear anything about that part of the encounter.  Apparently one report was that one of the security agents blasted the suspect at point blank range as the suspect was held down to the floor.  Perhaps the   general public is getting more realistic about how deadly encounters must be terminated in the shortest time possible.

It is also interesting that there has been none of the predictable outcry from the anti-self-defense special interest groups about armed agents walking amongst the general public.  

However, as professional and thorough as these security agents were, this deranged individual still murdered two innocent people.

Keep that in mind and remember the lessons from this incident.  There will be more and you and I could be standing in line at the next one.